So you wanna be a woodworker...?

The first installment in this series of videos, cutting down and milling my own logs for lumber. I wanted to document the process from tree to finished product. Step one is complete, soon I will be making the second video on milling the log into rough cut boards. Stay tuned to the channel for the next videos in the series and watch on my journey to turn logs to lumber.

10 comments so far

I haven’t got the years to watch this series. You can’t cut trees, mill lumber, and build something in a timely manner to blog a series on it. Make your videos as you go and then post the series in a couple years when it is all done.

OK so I watched your video, you must title it ” how not to drop a tree” You called it Lumberjacking and there is nothing lumberjacking about it. That tree was as straight as they get, you didn’t need all that equipment to push it in the wrong direction. LOL

The video was interesting. My neighbor cuts trees for a living and cringed with the approach. But it is done and this part cannot be changed. Moving forward consider speaking about all the various safety precautions and equipment that need to be used. Novices know nothing, they must be shown the path clearly to complete the task at hand. Personal safety and protective equipment is a must. We all do things and ignore such as we work alone. But when posting a video you leave yourself wide open for a litany of issues when caution is thrown to the wind.

I believe we all can agree we have done something stupid in the shop. Sometimes we get away with it, sometimes it is a trip to the ER.

I appreciate any and all CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Unfortunately I don’t have a neighbor or close friend that is a professional arborist (I think that’s quite obvious by the video) as I mentioned I was able to drop the tree and no one got hurt so That’s a win in my column. I simply make my videos to document my experience (even if it’s a reference of what not to do) I never make any claims to be an expert on anything ( I actually say this about 3-4 times in this video), just a guy who likes to build things made of wood. I don’t think there’s anything misleading about that.

Most people in my generation find it a productive use of their time to stay online all day or sit on their butt and play video games. Nothing related to woodworking is my profession (again obviously)

I don’t have an enormous amount of time to dedicate to shop time or even making the videos for that matter. I’m still learning how to do all of those things as I go. I have a profession that is not related at all to woodworking or carpentry or anything affiliated with the field. I work about 70 hours a week and have 4 small daughters to raise so my time is limited. That tree was dropped in may and I just got time to edit and post the video.

So my apologies for anyone who assumed I in any way presented myself as a professional or expert on the videos I make. I’m sure if you want to see videos made by professionals there are 1000s available online. I’ve seen a guy climb up a tree like a spider monkey with a Stihl hanging off his belt and drop a large tree in a matter of minutes! That guy was amazing!!! Unfortunately I do not possess that skil. I just enjoy making things with my own two hands that will survive long after I’m dead, and maybe my daughters will keep to remember the time spent with me in my shop helping daddy build whatever project is on the books for that week.

As for my pictures posting sideways, it would be nice to have a supportive community to help me figure out why that happens. I’ve uploaded all my photos from my phone. That might be why it happens. Sometimes they post correctly and sometimes they upload sideways. I’ve tried to delete them and upload them again. Sometimes they upload correctly and sometimes not. Any ideas of why this occurs…? Should I transfer photos to my computer first and then upload them to the forum? Any help is appreciated.

I’m still relatively new to LJ YouTube and honestly woodworking as well. The guy in the video started teaching me the basics a few years ago and it was just infectious. He was a professional cabinet builder and did gorgeous work. From there I had the bug and immersed myself into learning everything I can. Contrary to the comments on this thread there are a few folks out there that enjoy my projects and videos and to those people I say THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!

Not sure on the photo thing, I never use my phone only the PC. But check this thread out. LINK Something about landscape and how the picture is taken and saved. No much for the how and why of this. To me the phone is for calls, and text messages. Of course getting me to answer it is also an issue as I am usually busy, doing something…......... LOL

I do use my phone for pictures just because it’s easier for me. All my social media outlets as well as my website and my YouTube channel and Instagram and Snapchat and all of those things are easy to access through my phone.

The comment about taking the portraits and landscapes is something I never considered. That may be why the format of the original data skews it to go the other way. I will try to upload any future pictures using landscape rather than portrait positioning on my phone.